I'm using a ramdisk w/kernel 2.4.20 to boot into a usb zip drive. Once I get finished booting though, there are 2 suspicious processes that never die and one of them is continuously writing to the syslogs filling up the disk. I am able to mount this usb drive from another debian install and none of these problems occur. Here's my output,

// logs and processes //
PROCESSES:
root 15 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 02:46 0:00[usb-storage-0]
root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SW 02:46 0:00[scsi_eh_1]USBFS IS

MOUNTED/proc/bus/usb
devices:
*--snip--*
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=40 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl=255ms
T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=059b ProdID=0030 Rev= 1.00
S: Manufacturer=Iomega
S: Product=USB Zip 250
S: SerialNumber=059B00300D006248
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50
Driver=usb-storage
E: Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=82(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=83(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=32ms

drivers:
usbdevfs
hub
96-111: hiddev
hid
serial
usb-storage

LOOPING OUTPUT IN SYSLOG:
--------------------------------------
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: queuecommand() called
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: *** thread awakened.
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Command READ_10 (10 bytes)
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: 28 00 00 03 aa 78 00 00 04 00 00 00
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk command S 0x43425355 T 0x1516 Trg 0 LUN 0 L 2048 F 128 CL 10
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk command transfer result=0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_transfer_partial(): xfer 2048 bytes
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_bulk_msg() returned 0 xferred 2048/2048
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_transfer_partial(): transfer complete
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk data transfer result 0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Attempting to get CSW...
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk status result = 0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk status Sig 0x53425355 T 0x1516 R 0 Stat 0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: scsi cmd done, result=0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: *** thread sleeping.
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: queuecommand() called
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: *** thread awakened.
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Command READ_10 (10 bytes)
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: 28 00 00 03 aa 9c 00 00 02 00 00 00
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk command S 0x43425355 T 0x1517 Trg 0 LUN 0 L 1024 F 128 CL 10
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk command transfer result=0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_transfer_partial(): xfer 1024 bytes
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_bulk_msg() returned 0 xferred 1024/1024
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: usb_stor_transfer_partial(): transfer complete
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk data transfer result 0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Attempting to get CSW...
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk status result = 0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: Bulk status Sig 0x53425355 T 0x1517 R 0 Stat 0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: scsi cmd done, result=0x0
Oct 21 22:44:22 wakizashi kernel: usb-storage: *** thread sleeping.